Dr. M. Karen Powers
English
Associate Professor
Campus:
Tuscarawas
Office Hours:
T/R 12:05-12:45, AND BY APPOINTMENT, EMAIL AND GOOGLE CHAT
Biography
Dr. M. Karen Powers is a rhetorician, compositionist and sociolinguist from Miami University whose research is labeled “activist rhetoric.” Her publications are focused on the cultural work accomplished by language, particularly as words and images construct ideas about social justice issues and sociocultural difference. Recently, she participated in “Raise the Migration,” a nation-wide effort to increase the numbers of Monarch butterflies. This project launched her newest research about the influence of “citizen scientists” on environmental policies. She teaches writing and American literature courses.
Education
Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 1999
Master of Arts, Miami University, 1992
Bachelor of Arts, Miami University, 1990
Associate in Applied Science, Miami University, 1988
Master of Arts, Miami University, 1992
Bachelor of Arts, Miami University, 1990
Associate in Applied Science, Miami University, 1988
Expertise
Rhetorical and Feminist Historiography
History of the U.S. Public Research University
Environmental Rhetoric
Rhetorics of Sociocultural Difference
History of the U.S. Public Research University
Environmental Rhetoric
Rhetorics of Sociocultural Difference
Publications
- “Claiming Class, Crossing Borders, Renewing Democracy: Working-Class Rhetoric as Alternative National Narrative.” Under consideration. Open Words: Access and English Studies.
- “'We the People’—of Color: Environmental Justice Activists, the U.S. Constitution, and the Public Work of Rhetoric.” Re/Framing Identifications. Ed. Michelle Ballif. Long Grove, IL: Waveland, 2013. 213-20. Print.
- “'Good Citizens’ in a Twenty-First-Century University: Institutional Texts, Social Class, and the (Anti-)Democratic Politics of Place.” Open Words: Access and English Studies. 5.2 (Fall 2011). 4-28. Web.
- “Feminist Historiography, Epideictic Rhetoric, and the Kent State Shootings: Controversy, Commemoration, and Culpability.” Rhetoric: Concord and Controversy. Ed. Antonio de Velasco and Melody Lehn. Long Grove, IL: Waveland, 2011. 61-71. Print.
- “Loyalty Oaths and the Letter of the Law: Rhetoric, Resistance, and Responsibility.” The Responsibilities of Rhetoric. Ed. Michelle Smith and Barbara Warnick. Long Grove, IL: Waveland, 2010. 249-62. Print.
- “'Anti-American Studies’ in the Deep South: Dissenting Rhetorics, the Practice of Democracy, and Academic Freedom in Wartime Universities.” Co-authored with Catherine Chaput. College Composition and Communication. 58.4 (June 2007): 648-81. Print.
- “‘Where We Are Is Who We Are’: Location, Professional Identity, and the Two-Year College.” The Politics of Writing in the Two-Year College. Co-authored with Jeff Sommers. Ed. Barry Alford and Keith Kroll. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/ Cook, 2001. 19-41.
- “Watching Ourselves: Feminist Teachers and Authority.” In “A Symposium on Feminist Experiences in the Composition Classroom.” Co-authored with Jill Eichhorn, Sara Farris, Karen Hayes, Adriana Hernandez, Susan C. Jarratt, and Marian Sciachitano. Colle
Affiliations
Awards/Achievements
- Kent State University at Tuscarawas Distinguished Teaching Award, 2010-2011
- Kent State University Faculty Excellence Award—Teaching and/or University Citizenship, Fall 2008, Spring 2010, Spring 2013
- Claymont High School Teaching Award, 2008